Thirty-eight-year-old convicted child killer Austin Allan Hughes walked from the Port Macquarie Local Court last Thursday after facing a court order “fail to comply to reporting obligations”, the Court’s registrar said.
Hughes served 16 years for the murder of then six-year-old child John Ashfield in 1993 and was released from Silverwater Correctional Centre two years ago.
Hughes and his former girlfriend Gunn-Britt Ashfield, the victim’s mother, were convicted of the gruesome murder, with the alleged use of a hammer, at a home they shared in Nowra in 1993.
Hughes, who has allegedly changed his name, walked from the Port Macquarie courtroom last week after his case was adjourned from Thursday, March 8 to
March 22.
Hughes was arrested back in January in Kempsey.
He was taken into custody and refused bail over an alleged breach of the Child Protection Act and was later released on February 28.
It is believed Hughes was in breach of bail conditions by spending more than an allowed period of time with a woman and her two children at Kempsey.
